Beware: The Germans are coming to get us. No we've not time-traveled to 1939, but the German expansion into Europe has begun again. This time it's not to create an idealistic political regime but it is to teach the rest of Europe a lesson in terms of football. The Bundesliga has dominated the UEFA Champions League this season and the rest of Europe simply did not see the German bandwagon coming. They were not prepared and now it may take years for them to recover.
When England beat Germany 5-1 in their own back garden in 2001, it was soul-destroying for the Germans. Humiliating. All of this new wave of German football apparently comes from this incident 12 years ago. Maybe we should have played for the draw? It is evident that the Premier League and La Liga have not become bad leagues overnight but it does appear that the Bundeliga has caught up overnight. So where has it all come from? How have the Germans got it right?
Despite the game being won or lost on the hallowed turf, it's off the pitch that the foundations are laid down. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are being lauded after their huge wins over Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Bayern in particular after they beat the Barcelona side that have been the Kings of Europe for nearly a decade. 7-0 on aggregate speaks volumes. Off the pitch in the Bundesliga, the expenditure of all the clubs in the league add up to the wage bill alone of the Premier League. This is simply the start. The average price of an adult season ticket in the Bundesliga is £175. The average MATCHDAY ticket in the Premier League? £101. Teams such as Arsenal can charge as much as £135 per match. They put the fans first and this is part of the reason that many fans are riding the German bandwagon.
On the pitch, Dortmund and Bayern are simply incredible. Dortmund have won the Bundesliga in the last two seasons before being blown away by Bayern this season, the latter securing the title with a record points total with 4 games still to play. The total cost of the Dortmund starting XI in the first leg with Real Madrid in the semi-final was £17m. That is roughly a months wage bill for Manchester City, who exited the Champions League with no wins this season. This indicates the Germans know how to run their youth systems, with Bayern also fielding 5 products of their own club in their semi-final with Barcelona. The Premier League could certainly learn from this. Youth development is the only way the national team will ever become the force it once was. The English FA need to be adding money into the Grassroots of the game to encourage the development of World Class English players.
What can we learn from all of this? The most obvious thing is that German football is certainly the fastest growing league in Europe and also the emerging financial model that all other associations will be looking to replicate. Second only to the Premier League in terms of revenue generated now, the rest of Europe's elite needs to be thinking how it responds to this influx of German dominance and also how it can match in terms of finances. On the pitch the German teams seem to be a class above at the minute but surely it will take more than just season to write off La Liga and the Premier League. Good teams do not become bad instantly and the same goes for the overall quality of an entire division. These shifts in power come along once in a while, Italy had 2 Champions League finalists in 2003 and now nobody considers them amongst the elite. Times change and for now at least, Europe will toast Germany as it's 2 giants square off at Wembley in Europe's showcase football event.
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